Holiday Vignettes

We’re continuing our Vignette holiday tradition of sharing holiday cheer and stories. Feel free to share or follow along with our #HolidayVignettes tag or add your comments below. So we asked our team here at Vignette to spend some time pondering the holidays and how to get out of them relatively unscathed. What we found included a nod to self-medication, an earnest desire to re-connect with loved ones, and, of course, some stuff about snow. We live in Portland, so snow is magical for us. It’s like rain, but, you know, frozen. Ho, ho, ho.

Anyway, here’s what our team had to say. I hope you will see that beneath our smart-Alec veneer, we are all holiday heart. Merry Everything!

#1 How do you survive the holidays?

Sledding at Mt Hood

“I don’t survive, I thrive in the holidays. Growing up my family always embraced the festivities with relish.” — Carolyn Richardson

“By realizing that none of it is mandatory – at the beginning of the holiday season, I make a list of what I really want to do vs the things I feel like I “should do”. Most of the “want-to-do”s get done, and a few of the “should-do”s get done as well.” — Alison Clifford

“I love looking forward to the holidays as it always brings out the best in my family and the people I’m surrounded by. I’m also always reminded how amazing my wife is as she takes on so much for us to make sure everyone gets what they want and enjoys the positive holiday feeling.” — Gregg Apirian

“Our son Hudson is almost three and this is the first year he really “gets” christmas. Seeing how excited he is about Santa and presents makes it all worth it.” — Shona Lepis

#2 What’s your favorite family tradition?

“Being a young dad and an old husband we are creating our own traditions right now. I put up the Christmas lights on a tall ladder and didn’t kill myself so I think that will be repeated. Also, I proposed to my wife in our backyard in the snow on Christmas Eve a few years back so that is always a special day. She said yes, by the way.” — Mike Lepis

“Come Christmas morning, my brothers and I quickly regress to children. My dad will make us wait while he cooks a big breakfast and then make coffee before finally letting us race to the tree. Then we watch movies and cook a big Greek dinner. As we’ve gotten older we now partake in eggnog and bourbon all day long.” — Kristina Morris

“Oplatek. It’s a Polish tradition and a great way to really connect for a minute with the people you don’t see as often, and everyone else, too. Not to be confused with Uprocking.” — Dave Stawinski

#3 Your holiday indulgences?

Rockefeller Center Christmas

“Sleeping in, going into Manhattan (5th Avenue) to see the tree at Roc Center and all the extraordinary decorations. It’s absolutely amazing here at this time of year.” — Connie Cunningham

“While shopping for Christmas presents, I will definitely buy myself a gift or two along the way!” — Carolyn Domme

“Refusing to wear anything except pajamas for days on end.” — Carolyn Richardson

Shona is responsible for Vignette’s marketing practice, covering everything from agency brand aesthetics to positioning, managing the agency’s web and social presence, content marketing/blog, and supports business development’s needs. Shona began her career as a designer, managing a boutique design studio that specialized in hand-crafted brand identities for clients in both the US and Europe. She worked with clients to transform their vision into reality with creative solutions from brand identity to custom website design, digital marketing, and print collateral. Shona’s experiences as a creative influences her approach to marketing, using data-driven methodologies to deliver authentic brand experiences. Shona is an active member of the Portland design community and has served on the board as Communications Director of the Portland chapter of AIGA and a founding member of Branding Salon, a consortium of brand, design, development and marketing professionals.

We know one thing for sure. We’re only as good as the talent on our team. That’s why we take finding great people so seriously. If working in a fast-paced, team-based culture, and being creative all the time is who you are—reach out. We want to meet you!

Tell us about your projects, task us with solving a problem, or ask us to help you plan the future of your brand communications. We’d be delighted to show you how far we can engage your employees to drive your business.

Tell us about your projects, task us with solving a problem, or ask us to help you plan the future of your brand communications. We’d be delighted to show you how far we can engage your employees to drive your business.